Kauri Museum

Kauri Museum at Matakohe
Kauri Museum at Matakohe
Coordinates: 36°7′46″S 174°11′6″E / 36.12944°S 174.18500°E / -36.12944; 174.18500
Stump at Paihia
1929 Caterpillar Sixty on display in the Kauri Museum. This 60 horsepower crawler tractor, one of five imported into New Zealand in 1930 for hauling logs, replaced eight bullock teams (112 animals).

The Kauri Museum is in the west coast village of Matakohe, Northland, New Zealand. The museum, to the south of the Waipoua Forest, contains many exhibits that tell the story of the pioneering days when early European settlers in the area extracted kauri timber and kauri gum.[1]

The museum has over 4000 sq metres of undercover exhibits, including the largest collection of kauri gum in the world, and the largest collection of kauri furniture. It has a model of a 1900s kauri house with furniture and models in the dress of the early years, and an extensive collection of photographs and pioneering memorabilia.[2] On the wall, there are full-scale circumference outlines of the huge trees, including one of 8 1⁄2 metres, larger even than Tane Mahuta. The museum includes a working mock-up of a steam sawmill.[3]

It tells its story from the colonial viewpoint, and presents its representation of the kauri gum industry as part of the process of creating the New Zealand identity. It has little to say about negative aspects, such as the impact on the Māori people.[4]

The Kauri Museum has however helped raise awareness of the need to conserve the remaining forest through a display of photographs by the conservationist Stephen King, presented in partnership with the Waipoua Forest Trust.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "The Kauri Museum". The Kauri Museum. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  2. ↑ "The Kauri Museum Matakohe". National Services Te Paerangi. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  3. ↑ Darroch Donald (2003). "Matakohe and the Kauri Museum". New Zealand. Footprint Travel Guides. p. 199. ISBN 1-903471-74-5.
  4. ↑ Paula Hamilton, Linda Shopes (2008). Oral history and public memories. Temple University Press. p. 162. ISBN 1-59213-141-7.
  5. ↑ "Other displays at the Kauri Museum". The Kauri Museum. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
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Coordinates: 36°7′46″S 174°11′6″E / 36.12944°S 174.18500°E / -36.12944; 174.18500


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